Element Markets Awarded Contract to Manage King County RINs from Electric Vehicle Fleet

September 7, 2016

Element Markets Renewable Energy, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Element Markets, LLC, has agreed to a three-year deal with King County, Washington to manage the generation and sale of federal Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which are may be generated to meet compliance under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), from the use of biogas as transportation fuel.

Under the terms of the deal, Element Markets will supply biogas to King County’s transit division to power the department’s entire electric fleet, which is currently comprised of 159 electric trolleys and three battery-powered buses. Element Markets will also manage the generation and sale of any RIN credits generated from use of the biogas as transportation fuel.

King County estimated that its electric fleet consumes 18 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, which would equate to just under 1,000,000 RINs per year.

“King County operates one of the largest trolley systems in the US, and we are happy to be their partner in this ambitious project,” Randall Lack, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer said. “This deal will enable them to power their fleet of trolleys and buses with renewable energy and to participate in the RIN market.”

The deal includes language that would allow other American Public Transportation Association members to sign onto the contract. That could expand the impact and scope of the current deal with King County.

“Metro is committed to being one of the greenest transit agencies in the nation and is leading the way with the purchase of a new trolley fleet, a fleet of three battery electric vehicles, and the award winning Strategic Climate Action Plan. The sale of renewable identification numbers provides valuable funding for Metro to expand these efforts.”

The deal is structured in a manner that allows other American Public Transportation Association members to adopt similar programs, enabling more rapid adoption of the use of renewable transportation fuel.

Element Markets was selected as a result of a competitive request for proposal process.

About Element Markets, LLC

Element Markets is a leading renewable natural gas marketing and environmental commodities company that applies its diverse expertise to provide structured environmental compliance and optimization services to prominent corporate and institutional clients. The company has a long history within the emissions, carbon, renewable energy credit, biogas and renewable fuel credit markets. The company has twice been named as the “Emissions House of the Year” by Energy Risk Magazine. Element Markets is headquartered in Houston, Texas and more information about the company is available at www.elementmarkets.com.

About King County Metro Transit

King County Metro Transit is one of the nation’s largest public transportation agencies. In 2016, it had over 122 million boardings. Metro operates a fleet of over 1,300 vehicles with the nation’s second largest electric trolley fleet with 159 electric trolleys operating within the City of Seattle. The trolley fleet generates more than 20 million boardings per year and is a critical component of the County’s transit fleet. Recently, Metro has also taken delivery of three battery-powered buses for testing and piloting purposes and, if they are successful in operation, may operate more in the future.